The inventive concepts disclosed herein relate generally to a deployable tray table, and more particularly, to a deployable tray table having a main table and a table extension that transitions from a stowed position below the main table to a deployed position alongside the main table to expand the total surface area of the tray table.
Aircraft tray tables are used for a variety of different purposes including, but not limited to, dining, writing, reading, supporting electronic devices such as laptops and tablets, and as a general work surface.
Tray tables are typically configured to deploy from a stowed position against a seatback or from within an armrest housing positioned alongside a passenger seat. Tray tables that deploy from against a seatback can be latched in a stowed position against the seatback and rotate downward to horizontal for use. Tray tables that deploy from within an armrest can stow perpendicular to the floor of the aircraft, perpendicular to the seatback, or parallel to an elongate arm rest.
The aforementioned tray table configurations have a table top surface area limited by the size of the seat back or housing against or within which the tray table is stowed. In other words, considering the tray table must stow for taxi, take-off and landing, table size is limited by the space available to stow the tray table when not in use. As such, usable table top surface area is too small for activities such as dining and working.
To address table top surface area limitations, expandable tray tables have been developed which include hinged table parts that unfold to increase the overall surface area. Hinged table parts suffer from hinge constraints, bulk and undesirable gaps in the table top surface, among other limitations. As such, what is needed is an expandable tray table that provides a large table top surface area free of gaps and without the disadvantages associated with hinges, while at the same time minimizing stowage space.